HeadphoneAddict

Took my 18.5 yr old daughter for her laser vision correction. She lives a very active lifestyle, so she chose PRK over LASIK. Should I post videos? She's been saving up for years for this, and I thought her smile was going to split her head in half when she finally got it done. I was gonna add this to the "what made you smile today" thread, but I didn't smile as much as she did.

Happy Birthday!

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But the micro-details don't weigh as much and use less power.

Sad day, he'll be missed. I was just watching him jam with Steve Martin on youtube a few days ago.

I also think the two different phones perform their best with different kinds of amps. The 007 are a perfect match for the BHSE. On the other hand, I thought the 009 sounded a little fatiguing and bright with the BHSE, and sounded better to me when used with my KGSS or WES. But I wouldn't go to the other extreme and try to dull them down. It's just not worth the cost of the 009 to listen with a transformer, as that glosses over too much of the micro-detail that makes the 009 so exceptional. If Leo goes for the O2 Mk1 instead, he might end up in a continuous path of upgrades unless he goes directly for the KGSSHV or BHSE right out of the gate. Out of what I've heard, I think the SRM-717 or DIY KGSS are the minimum that I would be happy with to drive the O2 Mk1, but I wouldn't rest until I had a BHSE (or hot-rodded KGBH or KGSSHV).

Note - the reviews complain that the seller is only shipping the black lead, and not both the red and black.

I My stock SRD-7 Pro and SRD-7 Mk2 don't sound nearly as transparent or detailed as the WEE, WES or KGSS. But even the ZDT>WEE holds back the micro-detail, layering and transparency a good bit. So, based on how easy the 009 are to drive, I imagine they'd sound better with any vintage Stax amp or budget new model, rather than a transformer with speaker amp. With the WEE the 009 sound closer to a well driven HD800 or or an HE-60, so it's still fun to listen to but you don't get your money's worth out of the 009 that way. But with the KGSS (or WES) it's like the heavens opened up.

Very nice! Thanks for the heads up. I'm listening to my iPad > Westone ES5 IEM and the IEM completely blocks the sound of my window air conditioner, but this app lets the sound of my phone ringing intrude so I can answer it. I love it.

UPS approved the claim, in the sense of an, "Okay, sorry we broke it, now send us these forms and an estimate for repairs and see if we actually pay you". Regardless, I'm repacking the amp in bubble wrap and peanuts and double boxing it for the return trip for repair. I'm hoping to get it back to Marc by Thursday as requested. I was tempted to hook it up and turn it on, and stick something into the volume knob hole to operate the encoder and listen, but I really want Marc to confirm that nothing inside the amp is loose as well. The heavy transformer in the PSU with a broken mounting bolt makes it unsafe to ship, since it could snap another mounting bolt (or all of them) if jolted. So I'll have to fix that on my end. But, with 3 bolts holding it down I could use it as it stands as long as I don't plan to ship it any where (or drop kick it). If Marc had created a DIY company called "Levitate Electronics" then this would have never happened.

Just don't get UPS involved.

Fortunately it's a rotary encoder for a solenoid controlled stepped attenuator, so it won't be hard to fix. The knob feels like it weighs like half a pound, so the momentum from a drop could cause it snap off the encoder shaft. Don't take this the wrong way the heavy knob feels good rotating on the shaft, or what's left of the shaft. It's like on ball-bearings.

Some pics for everyone else:

Yes,mthis is the one Marc just sent me to evaluate prior to purchase. I've got a photo inspection with UPS in progress, and we should have a determination next week on compensation. I'll upload full pics later. Worst case, if not compensated I'll have Marc fix the volume pot and face plate scratches, and maybe live with the dinged heat sink which will cost a lot more to fix. I'm going to take off the side of the PSU case and fix the snapped bolt myself, since I don't think it's safe to ship this way (transformer too heavy to ship with only 3 bolts holding it down). I'm not highly skilled, but I've fixed a Sigma 11 PSU that Nate built when the transformer came loose during shipping (Peter shipped it packed well). Per Marc, "Basically, it's a higher voltage rail Blue Hawaii with Mullard XF2 tubes. It uses custom Electra Print transformers and a current source designed by me. It uses EL34 output tubes, like the original Blue Hawaii. It's made (literally!) to heat up very fast (5 min), because I wanted to not have 15 minutes (or more) to wait before I started to listen..[snip]..I've kept it on for 6 hours, but in general I wouldn't advise it. There are temperature sensors installed to actually control and monitor the heat, as well as a controlled "startup" sequence. The build features teflon jacks, and a relay controlled stepped attenuator and a single pair of XLR inputs. All of the cases are custom milled and I used a very high quality umbilical cable." Pix are on my iPhone, I'm posting on iPad while MacBook gets cloned. So soon...

Marc will be fine.

Best Buy finally gave me my iTunes redemption code over the phone, since they said they emailed it to me yesterday but I never got it (not in junk mail on web mail server or in Mac mail). They had me change my email address, but they can't send me a test email to see if it's working, unless I buy something else and look for the receipt. No thanks.

Well, after a week with the 3rd Gen iPad I still think the iPad 2 is great, and moving up to the 3rd Gen isn't such a huge move, although I still like it a lot. It was a great 50th birthday present. We have HSPDA+ here but not LTE, so I'm not seeing any data speed increases. If anything, I get 1-2 bars of 3G signal where the iPad 2 gets 3-4 bars. And while the screen is nicer there is really nothing wrong with the screen on the earlier models. I thought the step up from the original iPad to the iPad 2 was bigger at the time, as there was a noticeable improvement in thickness/weight and speed, along with the addition of the camera for FaceTime (never really used it for photos). The iPad 3 camera is a bit nicer, but I still find myself grabbing my iPhone 4S for photos more. My wife got my iPad 2 and she offered her old 64GB AT&T iPad 1 to our daughter to take to college, but she'd rather sell it to get a new Macbook Pro to replace her old white Macbook. That probably makes the most sense, but I'd even be happy with the original iPad than no iPad at all, since I find the iPhone screen too hard to read with web sites (using 50 year old eyes). So all you guys with older iPads, don't feel bad because you still have a great product.

The two boxes were insured for $1000 each, and the Mullard EL34 tube box for $500. The tubes arrived in one piece, and they don't rattle. I can take apart the PSU case to get to and replace the broken screw myself. Marc has to replace the rotary encoder for the volume solenoid control which is not too expensive, except he's very busy as hell and wants the amp there by next Thursday to fix it between traveling. But UPS might not even send an inspector to look at it for 5 days (no expedited service). I have a mail box at The UPS Store, and Lisa there is going to make sure everything is given full attention, and act like it's her own amp for me (might earn a bottle of wine). She figures since the boxes were shipped to her store that she is allowed to be my representative, not theirs. If I want the cosmetic scuffs taken care of then Marc may have to order a new heat sink and face plate, and spend many hours replacing them (all those devices attached to the heat sink would be a pain). But there is no time for that now, at least not until after September. I don't know if UPS will agree to fix that later when Marc has time, but I just want to get it up and running with the new encoder sooner than later. Fortunately one scuff will be hidden by the volume knob, and the heat sink nick is not horrible. That was my first thought. Should have packed it in a Samsonite suitcase. Well, we don't have any dented iPads anymore. One was replaced for a bad home button, and the other for a bad SIM card slot. iPad 3 is still virgin, for now.

PINK FLOYD - THE WALL 2CD 1994 JUMBO BOX C2K 36183 (lost my 1st copy somehow) The Hunger Games (soundtrack)

UPS is wonderfully nice to be hiring those poor gorillas to do their deliveries, but unfortunately they can't read the "VERY FRAGILE" writing on all sides of the boxes of a highly modified KGBH. They snapped off the shaft for the volume knob - the machined aluminum knob probably weighs 1/2 lb but amp was packed well, so it had to be dropped for the momentum to rip it off. This knob dinged the face plate and heat sinks. And they dropped the PSU hard enough to snap off one of the bolts holding down the larger of two transformers, which is now wobbly (this was even in a separate box). Insides of PSU look sound, but didn't open up the amp. Both boxes have some mild corner damage, so they weren't handled with care as requested. Waiting to see what UPS says about the claim. The PSU and volume can be fixed fairly easily, but the dings will be there forever.

Saw this and thought of Wayne

I don't want to give iTunes an additional $18 on top of the $40 I just spent, so I'm waiting for the $50 gift card to come through 1st. When I called customer service today it had been 15 hours and no receipt - I still haven't gotten a receipt or the gift card code 24 hours later, although my VISA was charged for it yesterday. They said they'd email me back in 24 hours, or I can call with my case # tomorrow and see what is up. If I don't get it by then I may have to call VISA and contest the charge.

Got charged for this gift card at 9:46PM yesterday, but have still not received a receipt or redemption code in my mailbox, and it's not in junk mail. I got a case # with Best Buy, but for now I'm out $40 and don't want to buy "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" until I can redeem my gift card. Bummed.

I don't really push the iPad too hard, so it's never gotten warmer than when off. Same with my iPad 2 (now my wife's).

Happy Birthday!